Page 50 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

You Never Have To Rely on Your Technical Brilliance • 31

The most transferable skill across functions, companies, industries,
cultures, and countries is generalist expertise. Keep up the work in your
critical core competency while you grasp knowledge of the big picture.
Use both to get known as the best and brightest in predicting needs, and
identifying, hiring, placing, promoting, training, developing, managing,
motivating, and retaining numbers of talented people.

What Does Being a Generalist Mean?

What Does It Look Like?

If you choose to do this (because it is your choice), you

■ Take on the concerns of other disciplines.
■ Make things better across the board, not just in your specialty.
■ Create a consistent high-performance/high-integrity culture and
carry that across a wide and diverse audience.
■ Affect the entire business in new products, new markets, and
new acquisitions.
■ Can coordinate relationships with the board, corporate officers,
staff, customers, and other constituents, who might include
outside partners, suppliers, funders, contract counterparties,
local/national/international industry leaders, lobbyists,
governance, regulators, industry groups, Wall Street analysts, and
the community.
■ Ensure that company processes are in place for sound, timely,
“no surprise” financial and nonfinancial reporting.
■ Comply with legislation and regulatory bodies.
■ Attract good employees whom you are willing and able to
promote, demote, and dismiss when needed.
■ Understand issues, make rational judgments, and draw correct
conclusions to solve adverse/complex/wide problems outside your
technical expertise.
■ Formulate short- and long-term strategies and policies and gain
agreement and acceptance of your ideas and approaches.